Dear Faith Family-

NEW SERMON SERIES-

Last week I began a new sermon series for the summer- “Foundations of the New Testament Church”. As I mentioned last Sunday, many churches work incredibly hard and extremely conscientiously to accomplish the mission given them by God. They plan and organize to be as effective and efficient as they possibly can be. But over the years, the organizational structure they put into place begins to demand so much time and energy to maintain, that God’s mission gets moved to a back burner as they are forced to give their primary focus to maintaining their organization. Once God is no longer the primary focus, the church loses its life force. If a change is not made soon, the church eventually dies. What’s the remedy to such a slow and painful demise? A re-examination of, and recommitment to, those building blocks upon which the New Testament church was built. I’m hoping that this can remind us of what we are and whose we are, and can help us make sure that we’re making the main thing the main thing.

 BRAINSTORMING-

Tied to this process of a biblical evaluation of who we are and what we’re doing, I’ve scheduled a “BrainStorm” session for 4:00pm on Sunday afternoon, July 25. The Bible makes reference in at least two places to God’s empowerment of His people to enable them to understand the current times and to accurately discern future direction.

 “'And it shall be in the last days,' God says, 'That I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams…”

Acts 2:17 NASB

“…the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do…”

1 Chronicles 12:32 NASB

 Within every congregation, there are those who seem to have a unique sensitivity in those areas. Might you be one of them? If so, I’d like to hear what God might be impressing upon your heart.

On Sunday afternoon, July 25, from 4-5pm, I’ve scheduled a “spiritual brainstorming” session in room 212/214. It should be a crazy but fun time… and either very rewarding or incredibly frustrating depending on your response to the process we’ll use. We’ll start at EXACTLY 4:00 and end PRECISELY at 5:00 (unless our brains run dry and we end a little earlier). No negative words or comments will be allowed. We’ll be speaking concisely and briefly, with no room for chasing rabbits; I’ll be posing questions to direct the flow of ideas and comments. Any comments which are off-topic or judgmental in nature will be immediately parked. This will be rapid-fire and fast paced. Remember… it’s called a brain-“STORM”, not a brain-“SNOOZE”. So if you’re still interested and I haven’t scared you off, join me at 4pm on the 25^th!

ELDERS’ MEETINGS-

Most of you know how busy and hectic the last couple of years have been around our church. SO much to do and SO many needs to address! We realized during our Elders’ meeting last week that as we’ve tried to be responsive to everything and everyone, we’ve developed a reactive focus instead of a proactive one. With some many known changes ahead of us (like the sale of our property and building and the need to assess and plan for our future location needs, just to name two), we really need to become more proactive in our approach to our meetings. We’d like to try something different over the next couple of months, and we’re asking for your patience and understanding as we try to regain the focus we need to serve the church in the best possible way.

As you are probably aware, the Elders regularly meet on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. Beginning in August, we’d like to be able to devote the first meeting each month to matters of business, administration and organization. At that meeting, any member who would like to share something with the Elders would be encouraged to attend. We’ll meet with the Church Administrator to review our financial standing. We’ll try to address the emergency/crisis needs which come our way each month. Business matters not able to be addressed would be placed on the agenda for the first meeting of the following month. The second meeting of each month would be devoted to prayer, ministry and seeking God’s direction for our church. We may attempt to revisit our recent efforts at making home visits to members of the congregation (Our intent is not to interrupt your routine, but merely to drop by briefly, see how you’re doing, and pray with you. The visit could be as brief as 10 minutes, or as long as 30 or 40 minutes- it’s totally up to you.). This change in meeting focus may or may not prove to be of help… but we think it’s worth a try. Please remember us in your prayers as we try to be faithful to our responsibility of leadership and service.

CHURCH ADMINISTRATOR-

Randall Cook was recognized in worship a couple of weeks ago in appreciation for his ministry as our Church Administrator. As he began new employment, it was necessary for him to step down from his ministry role as our Administrator. After weeks of dialogue and prayer, we’re pleased to share with you that Chris Monk will serve as our new Church Administrator. He’ll be working closely with the Elders and Church Secretary over the next few months to become familiar with our procedures and needs. I’m sure you’ll be lifting up Chris in prayer as he assumes this responsibility.

WOW! L-O-N-G email! I guess that’s what I get for missing a week.

As you travel this summer, know that you will be in my prayers. When you’re in town, I’ll look forward to seeing you in worship. I hope the time we spend together this summer will help us renew our focus on exactly what it means to be “the church”.

Hope to see you tomorrow!